Bohemia reclaims first Op. Flashpoint

By Fred Dutton Published 23 June, 2011

Renames it Arma: Cold War Assault.

The first game in Codemasters' Operation Flashpoint series is returning from the dead, courtesy of original developer Bohemia Interactive.

First released back in 2001, Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis has recently been discontinued by the publisher. However, Bohemia, which was franchise custodian until Codemasters controversially took the series in-house with 2009's Dragon Rising, is now re-releasing it as Arma: Cold War Assault.

As well as the original game, you'll also get the 2002 Resistance expansion pack.

All existing Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis users will be able to download and install it for free. For everyone else, the game will be available through various online stores “in the near future”.

Bohemia's announcement neglected to include any further detail on when and where you'll be able to download it. We've asked for clarification and will update when we get a response.

"After all these years of continuous support and improvements we are delighted to be able to unite our lineup of military simulators for PC under the Arma brand," commented Bohemia CEO Marek Spanel.

"This step will not only avoid potential confusion amongst users and the wider gaming public, but it will also preserve what is now a classic PC game for years to come as it could no longer be available under its original name."

The game snagged a glowing 9/10 in Eurogamer's original Operation Flashpoint review back in 2001.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • FWB #1 11 months ago

    And that is exactly why Codies are a shower of shit.

  • robostac #2 11 months ago

    I like how renaming a game to be part of a different series of games is avoiding potential confusion.

  • rojjer #3 11 months ago

    but.. it looks like arse now though? Seriously. Especially up against Arma II which is fantastic

  • Hunam #4 11 months ago

    I spent so many hours playing this game. Half of them hiding in bushes to sneak up on ruskies.

  • Paul_cz #5 11 months ago

    Awesome move. Codemasters own Flashpoint brand, but nothing else. Bohemia owns the game itself, but cannot use its proper name. So they take it and rename it to their own brand. Fucking smart and great move. Hopefully this new Arma Cold War will sell again on GOG and so on.

  • trooperdx3117 #6 11 months ago

    Whether the game is made irrelevent now by arma 2 its still fantastic news for bohemia!

  • Seehuusen #7 11 months ago

    I can't believe i didnt know this! no wonder OF: DR was so bad.....

    I just hope ARMA 3 turns out less buggy, and perhaps with some really neat controller support, cause i will be honest and say that the controls for ARMA 2 was way too complicated for me.

  • TheLittlestHobo #8 11 months ago

    Good on Bohemia, Codemasters took the Flashpoint brand and flushed it down the toilet. Roll on Arma 3.

  • lucky_jim #9 11 months ago

    Not really my sort of game, but I hope Bohemia manage to pull this off as successfully as SI did when CM changed to FM. Mind you, given the high regard the Arma brand seems to be held in, they may have already done so.

    I know these sort of things happen in this industry, but it always feels a bit like publishers are claiming the credit for the developers' hard work when a well-loved brand stays with the publisher but not the developer.

  • snyderkurva #10 11 months ago

    Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis is the best war game i ve ever played... then i had looong without-games pause and now it´s Bad Company 2 :)

  • Ed6445 #11 11 months ago

    For one glorious moment I thought they were announcing an HD remake (a la MGS 2 & 3) but alas!

  • sourc0r #12 11 months ago

    the game is definitely not irrelevant. beyond those ugly UGLY GODDAMN UGLY graphics you'll find an immersive innovative campaign and neat gameplay. finding your way back out of enemy territory completely on your own at night was such a great experience..

  • Timotei #13 11 months ago

    Want an HD version. I know you can mod the shit out of the original but it's time consuming, complex and ultimately buggy.

    One of my favourite games of all time, being trapped alone in that forest, hearing your own heartbeat... one of the best moments in gaming ever.

  • Colliers #14 11 months ago

    Yeah Operation Flashpoint used to be something else. A lot of unique experiences. It really is the only series that can make me feel as if I'm on a battlefield. And how large, scary and dangerous it all is.

    I think Arma is pretty succesfull. It has an active community of some rather hardcore players. Bohemia provides good features for it and some of the mods are amazing. The engine performance is still rather crap and the lightning can still do odd things but it does run reasonably stable.

    I think the last ArmA did some great interface improvements and the official campaigns are a lot of fun. Some of it is really open and allows you to fuck up all your objectives at a chosen pace. I'm pretty shit at these games (not hardcore enough, I guess) but I love the experience and some of the multiplayer some Arma guys do is very cool.

    Edit: And yes, the alone in the forest mission is engraved into my memories as well. Frustrating and scary at first but exhilarating when I finally worked out a working plan.
    Edited by Colliers at 23/06/11 @ 21:28

  • scuffpuppies #15 11 months ago

    All existing Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis users will be able to download and install it for free. For everyone else, the game will be available through various online stores ?in the near future?.

    Erm...if you already own it...why would you want to download it? I still have my copy of OF: CWC, and after hearing about this I thought Bohemia were releasing it again using the ARMA2 engine. Now that would be fantastic. CWC had some of the best user created content I've ever known. Some published their missions with full animated cut scenes, music, VO acting, everything the full game had. Boy I loved that game. Reading the stars to navigate your way to safety without equipment. Great stuff.

    I always got the impression Codemaster's designers never really played Bohemia's original. I'm sure they looked at it, but never REALLY played it. What other reason could there be for Codemaster's adaptation being nothing like the game they're emulating?

  • Graveland #16 11 months ago

    What made this game so god damn brilliant was that it is very well balanced in terms of difficulty. Yes, a single bullet from an enemy shooting from 200m away could kill you, but the same applied to your shots against the enemy.

    Some superb gaming-memories of crawling on my belly for 500m to get to the next objective after having my legs knackered by a bullet, whilst at the same time trying avoid being spotted by patrolling Spetsnaz platoons and a circling helicopter. And then your heart sinks as you can hear that old familiar high-pitched metallic creaking of an approaching BMP....ah, those were the days.

  • Whizzo #17 11 months ago

    For a long time the EG forum's longest thread was the Operation Flashpoint one, there's a very good reason for that, it was an absolutely incredible game that Codemasters have sullied the name of with their recent titles.

  • TagemandBagem #18 11 months ago

    The EW campaign in Arma2 reminded me a lot of the original OFP. Great atmosphere and scope. http://youtu.be/7erQMxAPkpE

  • CamberGreber #19 11 months ago

    I can already hear the Rolling Thunder of the BMPs

  • hiddenranbir #20 11 months ago

    Does this mean GoG can sell it again?